Friday, 30 January 2009

The 70s were fantastic, weren't they? The days of real TV, like the 6 Million Dollar Man, the Greatest American Hero, Battlestar Galatica, The Hulk, Space: 1999... how may can you name, as per the picture below?Click here for a really big version, and a smaller version. Really cool pic! (Thanks to the Bad Astronomer for pointing this out.)

Wednesday, 28 January 2009

The last of the DoctorDonna books... is a Quest Adventure! Shining Darkness by Mark Michalowski.

The formula for a Quest Adventure is quite simple: go to point A, have a mini adventure. Then go to point B, have a mini adventure... etc., etc., until finally you all meet up and try to find the palm trees in the shape of a W or whatever. Mark takes this premise... and doesn't deviate at all.

At least the setting is more interesting... potentially. It's set in the Andromeda Galaxy (so we don't get the Doctor going "I know everything about everything!"), and organics and mechanicals get on like crazy... but, eh, to be honest, it could easily have been the Milky Way, or Planet X, or... anywhere with different places to go. The Quest Adventure is flexible in that way, and Mark doesn't make full use aside from the final location.

But, hey, it's fun! Mark is trying to make a point about racism, and doesn't wait to hammer that home at many points and give the Doctor several chances to comment on it. Being a kid book, it doesn't go into dark places that others could, so the lesson isn't that deep either, but it's superficial enough that it can't belabor the point too hard.

The Doctor and Donna are split up, so Mark doesn't have to write Donna too often, but some moments with her are definitely spot on (she doesn't rant too often, though). Of the rest of the characters, Mother is the most memorable, which says a lot about the characters (note: Mother is a robot/mechanical, the others aren't).

Nice easy book to read and enjoy. Basic plot, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Still in the Underdark, and still not that far into our goal. Not helped when just after we wake up, there's a party of ghouls led by a Drow that decides to enter our range. Rather than bother with any of that parley nonsense, we go straight to the attack. Most of the ghouls, not a problem, but with only three of us up the final takedown of the Drow and Bodyguard proves long and annoying, but ultimately the outcome is certain.

We are joined by a party of four women from She Who Hired Us (and, boy, they ain't exactly impressed with our lack of progress), but they have only come to deliver exposition. We get a map of our destination, and told that there be ex-slaves, there be an area controlled by the undead, there be a temple of Orcus (or maybe Lolth, I wasn't quite paying full attention) and there be an area of overrun shops. At this point, the option of 'kill everyone' becomes increasingly attractive.

But we three progress on, and come to a bridge into town, about which we can see is rather ravaged and on fire. The bridge is an easy walk... until we are jumped by some spiders, three smaller and one huge one. The bridge isn't that big and at one point I am Livin' on the Edge. However, I am fleet of foot and don't go over... at least, not until we are engaged in beating on the big spider. Then I go over, and then I am Under the Bridge. Actually, I'm a long way down, and it takes a while to rejoin the party.

Which seemed like a good moment to take a break and wait for the rest of them to catch up.

Monday, 26 January 2009

Because I was inspired by some recent Quickstart rules for a game, I jumped in and ran the mod last Saturday (and Logan and I came up with something to surprise the players about that). However, Logan is now running an "early session" that day, and some of those events spilled into my time (which is very irritating). Coupled with Logan turning in early for an early start the next day (for something else), I didn't get to finish my mod, so it looks like I'm running again next week.

I finally saw the first season of The Mentalist. Hey, I like it! But that's not too surprising when the main lead is an ex-psychic shyster who's turned to the good side (after a rather shocking experience) and now puts his talents to solving crimes as part of the CBI/CIB (it changes from show to show) the California Bureau of Investigation/Investigation Bureau.

The set-up is a little like Psych in that regard, someone with pretend psychic powers being used to solve crimes, but it is far more serious. It's not full-blown dark, especially with Patrick Jane (the lead) often doing a lot of amuse himself (and us), but comedy is not the first label to apply. In that regard, it reminded me more of Profiler.

This aspect is enhanced by having a reoccuring (as such, he is more mentioned than appears) villain in the form of Red John, a serial killer. In fact, red is a common theme, with all the episode titles having 'Red' in them somewhere, and there being more red-heads in this show than any other I can immediately recall (although selection bias might be in play here). [This is especially amusing as in my Heroic Cthulhu game there is a PC whose character has a distinct red fetish.]

Each episode is fairly 'killer of the week', but the mentalist aspect helps raise it above other shows that are CSI-like (not that I've ever seen any CSI episode). Definitely an enjoyable watch.

Sunday, 25 January 2009

Lost Season Five has kicked off, and I've caught the first two episodes. It's still getting worse. There was nearly the promise of telling us information... but they neatly avoided it. I'll be really glad when this is over... and I'm still not 100% sure why I'm watching it... but watch I must!

As for what's been happening, there's a neat summary by Hurley in the second episode, quoted below (hidden away on the front page).

We did crash, but it was on this crazy island. We waited for rescue, but there was no rescue. And then there was this smoke monster, then there were these other people on the island, we call them the Others. And they started attacking us. And there were some hatches and a button you had to press every 108 minutes, or... well, I was never really clear on that. But, the Others didn't have anything to do with the hatches, that was the Dharma Initiative. They're all dead, the Others killed them, and now they're trying to kill us. And then we teamed up with the Others because some worse people were coming on a freighter, Desmond's girlfriend's father sent them to kill us. So we stole their helicopter and we flew to their freighter, but it blew up. And we couldn't go back to the island because it disappeared. So then we crash into the ocean, and we floated there for a while, till the boat came and picked us up. And by then there were six of us, that part was true.

But the rest of the people, who were on the plane... They're still on that island.

Saturday, 24 January 2009

I'm a member of Kiva, a microlending site that gives loans to people in third world countries. Yes, there is an article out there that says that microfinancing won't help anyone (need to help change the communities, not the individuals), but it still feels a good thing to do.

But this year, you can help out to, by getting Intel to donate 5c every time someone pushes a button. It's the Small Things Challenge, and you don't need to sign up or anything, just push the button (and enter capcha text) and done!

The microlending business is very popular at the moment, so much so that Kiva is running out of people to give loans too. People are listed for a month, but at the current rate of giving, they're not likely to be listed for an hour! That says an incredible amount about the people willing to help out.

Fine, yes, I'm not donating a lot, but I am giving, and already had some of my loans paid back (which I turned around and loaned out again). If you can, give what you can, and help others get off the ground and get themselves productive.

Friday, 23 January 2009

Next book in the series: The Doctor Trap, by Simon Messingham. Starts well!

The plot isn’t that complicated, the basics outlined on the back cover, and I enjoyed the simplicity. No in depth characterisations here, just introduce the situation and get on with it! Yay!

That said, it’s a bit too simple, with basically the same scene repeated a few times to pad the book out. There are a few twists, and working who exactly is who does get a little confusing (but still nicely done in some places).

As for how someone else writes Donna: Simon deals with this by writing her out! Not much of her is in this book, and what there is is rather basic, but still works.

Overall, it is a very nice light read. I’m thinking back now to how much actually happened (not much), but it was enjoyable! Skippable, but if you have the time…

Order: another book without many references to other stories... or any references! Take your pick of placement.

Thursday, 22 January 2009

It has been said that all you need to disprove evolution is to find a rabbit fossil in the Cambrian explosion (presuming it stands up to scientific scutiny). All theorys are at best provisional, although they may have a certainy so high that to doubt they are a fact is beyond reasonable consideration (to badly paraphrase Stephen J. Gould).

One piece of evidence has come to light that, while not contributing towards evolution's downfall, may spell the end for another theory, that of New Zealand having sunk beneath the waves in time gone by. Aroudn 26 million years ago NZ was under water as evinced by a paucity of evidence... but now there is evidence from local kauri that it was around then.

This was the first I'd heard of the "NZ beneath the waves" idea (not really my area of expertise), so I went looking. First step, find out when that was. 26 million years ago put it in the Oligocene Era (33.7m - 23.8m.y.). So, if this is so prevalent, should be able to find it easily... the first relevant entry lead me to New Zealand Evolutionary Evidence by the University of Waikato.

Looking at the Oligocene Era entry gives this info: Two thirds of modern day New Zealand were submerged during the Oligocene, the movement of the tectonic plates in the north of New Zealand caused big areas of oceanic crust to be submerged. The little land that was left during the Oligocene was home to a decreasing number of species. Many died out but some snails, peripatus, frogs, tuatara and ratites survived. A similar scenario happened to the plants on land, and here the warmth loving beech trees became dominant.

Might just be me, but unless they updated that page really recently, it seems that this new hypothesis isn't as new as it sounded. (Which could either be the media over reporting, or reporting something now established but not well known.) Whatever the case, remember one important point: if the facts don't fit the theory, change (or discard) the theory, don't ignore the facts.

Wednesday, 21 January 2009

Just to be clear: animal psychics are just as psychic as and other psychic. The only difference is is that it's harder to be called on it. (That said, there have been amazingly bad calls by people psychics that have been called valid!)

I note that messages from animals look to be just as exciting and details as people messages: "I didn't have anything not to be peaceful about. I had a complete life." and "When I was hurt, I was helped right away."

Uh-huh.

I'm reminded of the Penn and Teller Bullshit episode about animal psychics, and their final point: why do animal psychics need to ask the owners the pet's name?

Tuesday, 20 January 2009

After finding ourselves and our ship back in familiar waters (because it was easier that way), we were called back to the queendom of Prevelesence (or whatever that name was), the island run by the Amazon women, and their Drow buddies. Only, they weren't buddies any more, and were in a war with them.

In fact, there was more than one war, in that there was the city of the Drow who were also fighting the city of some undead Drow (or something, like I was paying attention). The leader, whatshername, wanted us to go to the city of the Drow and get a scroll that would enable her to enforce a treaty with the Drow and return to peace. Oh, and there was also a nice sword in the city of the undead Drow that if we could pick up too...?

There not being much else on our plates, we opted for 'yes' and were thus thrust into the Underdark. We first encountered some big bug spider things, and something with tentacles, and for a while it looked like we weren't even going to survive a random meeting with some monsters! Still, we rallied and after taking down half their numbers (okay, so there were only four to start with), we managed to dispatch the others.

Onward into the cave, and we came across a group of undead Drow fighting a group of non-undead Drow. Since we wanted to go to the Drow city, we sided with the non-undead Drow, although to start with they took a few pot-shots at us (and by us, I mean me). Then, after we put down a few, they hung back and saw what we could do... which was kill undead.

However, that didn't enamour them to us, so after some backchat and posturing, we continued to fight and busted some big abilities on them. Not quick, but they were evil and... well, I was good (the rest of my group being borderline evil).

Luckily for us they marked the way home (and only I could speak Elvish - should make for interesting negotiations in the future)... however, I realise now that that's the direction the undead Drow came from...

Monday, 19 January 2009

First up was a game of Serenity: Baker's Dozen (yay!). I was Jayne (yay!). I killed people (yay!). And we shot the important person in the game that we weren't supposed to (yay!). So we didn't get as much money as we should have (...boo!...).

Second was Breach of Containment, in which there was a breach in protocol with a possible environmental disaster leaking from Massey University, in which I was a MAF officer. We had two slight problems, one being that the character knowledge was completely different from player knowledge and we seemed to be expected to know the character knowledge (as the first group did) and second we didn't really know what to make of the plot until right near the end. Still, it was good to try a full on investigation game like this.

Last was Pigs In Spaceeeeeeeee, in which we were Pigs. In Space. (No, not the Muppet ones.) I was Barry Trotter! Oh, the bad puns flew and the over-cooked ham acting... it was a great last round game! (One of the players did a sketch which should be on the tubes at some point.) Oh the hammanity!

Next year I'm even thinking of trying to GM a game... maybe even two...

Sunday, 18 January 2009

Got off to a great start when the GM for the first session I was in didn't turn up (never did find out if they did later). So I went into Games on Demand instead. With all the range of indie games available, I went for... classic D&D, Old Skool Style! How old? Roll a d6 to open doors, that's how old! We went searching for treasure, had four party members die... but we found the treasure! Woo! Apparently that wasn't a common occurrence... (certainly I was surprised we got anywhere with one of us insisting that we stick on the first level when clearly the interesting stuff was on the second.)

Next up, got into some Call of Cthulhu, when we had Eagle One Down. I was Private Greenhorn in the platoon to recee an area, when our copter was shot down or something (never did find out what happened to it). When we got near our target, people started dying in our party and then we ended up fighting something with too many legs and eyes and maybe wings and... ewww... still, I didn't die or go insane. Wasn't even scratched. Huzzah!

Lastly, went into the weird Dingwall creation 24 Hours: Redux, in which... well, I won't give it away but I was a rockstar, a Hispanic woman and a con artist, and my last character won... as such... Yay!

Saturday, 17 January 2009

Time for more books, this one being The Ghosts of India by Mark Morris. OMG! Aliens in an historical setting! ZOMG!

Dateline: India, 1947... although to be honest, there isn't really much setting that wouldn't enable this story to take place nearly anywhere. Key point (and this isn't a spoiler), there's an alien with technology beyond that of the locals who is up to nefarious deeds... Yeah, that's India specific right there.

Mark does take the opportunity to bring in the historical figure of Mohandas Gandhi, having him as a revered figure who is full of serenity and curiosity... and it treated very well by the author. Indeed, hardly anyone really suffers (outside of the 'poor beaten Indians' who make up the background, but no-one bothers with them).

One aspect of the show that many people (at one least) were wondering about was how well Donna would translate to the small page. So far, all right, although she's kept toned down. Like that, she works, but will see if other authors can deal with her effectively.

Not a terribly exciting book, at the end of the day. It'll do, but... eh...

Order: No particular links to anything, so wherever you like to be honest.

Thursday, 15 January 2009

Issue 27 is deceptively light, page 6 in particular looking to be bad filler (which filled me with foreboding after reading Alex’s comments), but I launched into the first article and got stuck in. The last of the Saucer article completes the picture, and I’m glad that we have such a comprehensive coverage of the entire TARDIS TALES … er … tale. (Although when it started referring to the issue it appeared, it seemed a tad too self-referential). And the best part was seeing a new Saucer script (Bruise Greedy? Subtlety indeed, Mr Muir!).

Another meaty article is the look at four years of RTD-ness. Here’s where RTP gets really interesting in that it has the light humourous stuff, but then spins out these thoughtful in-depth examinations of the series! Some very interesting pieces in here, and I note that while we all had different Least-liked episodes, there was overlap in Most-liked.

I liked Dave’s piece on Torchwood, some great points raised there. And while taking nothing away from Dave, he does prove that it’s far easier to come up with anything better than what we got. Pete raises an interesting point re Bannakaffalatta, but it merely shows he thought about it more than RTD did. (But I’m not entirely sure I get the comic strips.)

Although much time passed before this came out, and I see the next issue is due out next month, it was well worth the wait.

Wednesday, 14 January 2009

First up is campaign stuff as we go to help a useful NPC, only to lose our minds as a fellow PC becomes changed in ways we didn't want to consider. Mousecapades: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

After a break, the game continued and they got me in as the guy soloing managed to get himself done over in five minutes. We redid an old mod that I had done (as opposed to listen to), but this one took on all new meaning given the PCs involved. Clothing Redux: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Next day, Dave takes over GMing duties, and we spend far too much time investigating (as is our want) and the answer was rather... simple to get to (and I make a neat fix for the solution). Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

The next mod we are brought in by an agency that holds the head of KBC New York's balls in the palm of their hand... although only for the moment. We stumble down the trail, and uncover a plot that seems to be a completely different mod! But we muddle through and throw a crimp in a vast plan. Ritualistic Murder (noted as Puntastic, but no more than usual for us): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9.

(You didn't think I would let this pass without comment, did you?) New guidelines are coming out for how schools should handle religious ceremonies. In particular is being noted how pupils can "opt out" of these events.

Given that this has occured in other countries(*), I can already foresee some issues. Those that "opt out" may be seen as odd by the other pupils, and thus they will go to these events simply out of peer pressure. Also while these events are not compulsory, pupils have to be at school while the events go on, which I'm sure if an incredibly effective use of their time, won't lead to make-work at all, and in no way will be seen as an endorsement of this event which gets special treatments (how many other activities are given this status?).

Instead of making it an "opt out" event, let's play it the way it should be. These are secular school we are talking about (private schools are free to dictate as they will) and as such this non-secular event should be optional, but in that it's available for people who want it and the default position should not be that everyone is assumed to go. Ie., let's make these events "opt in", and during free time in which the students can choose what they do (including not being around).

I suspect, though, that such ideas would be considered heretical...

(*)Including America where the idea of the separation of church and state seems to be considered un-American...

Tuesday, 13 January 2009

So we had finally reached the city at the edge of fore... edge of the main rift, and joined up with Le Resistance! We found out that there was to be an attack on the volcano that would draw off the Demon Prince and allow us to infiltrate and use a grenade-type orb-thingy to destroy the rift. Yep, simple enough.

Together with ten others, we approached and waited for the diversion... which included a compatriot we had lost a while ago, Reed the Halfling Paladin! He had aged a lot, but still managed to pull out a few nasty moves that got the big bad out of the way and merely left our way hampered by a large creature with mouth tentacles and wings. Whenever we got close it would simply move away, and at best I got a few ranged shots in, but finally managed to put it down, leaving up with a maze of corridors inside the volcano.

Although it wasn't much of a maze as there was one main route we managed to follow, although we became beset with on-coming demons spawned by the rift we were heading towards. This lead to a moving battle along the passageways that combined to be taxing and wearying and just plain annoying. By the time we neared the rift, we decided we couldn't even pause for a breath and just got a move on.

And then we found the big worm... well, it looked like a big worm as that was the only part of it we could see. It was keeping this rift window open, but didn't stop the guy throwing in the grenade (and then he got eaten... whomever he was...). Unfortunately that didn't stop the rift... which kind of knackered our plans. Stolar (the sword with the artificer in it that I was using) realised that the rift was being powered by something inside and that the only way to defeat it was to destroy it from inside... which would close all the rifts... and leaving whomever was inside trapped...

Unless they were near by a warlord with pretentions of magicalness who could mage hand the sword inside (but not before it tried to me make go inside!). After the purple thing died, we thrust the sword in, and saved the city! Huzzah!

Sunday, 11 January 2009

There is a very interesting read archived for all prosperity on the web, namely an RPG History (it starts out at five parts, but ends up at nine).

Quite the look, although there is a lot of focus on the efforts of D&D to make and expand the industry, and only in the latter parts do other RP games get a serious look in.

Then again, this article is ten years old. Ultima Online is considered the King of online RPGs with no mention of World of Warcraft, and mainly text computer games are metioned along with Sierra, unlike the slew of RPG games we have nowadays (although whether or not they are RPG or action or ... whatever isn't considered). And the Japanese contribution doesn't get seriously mentioned (Magic: The Gathering is in there, but not Pokemon).

Still, a heck of a good read for some fascinating background to this hobby of ours.

Saturday, 10 January 2009

Friday, 9 January 2009

This CGI'd version of a Web of Fear trailer has been found and very good it is too! Although still seems to have a problem with mouth movements matching realistically. (That is the next issue to really address.)

Thursday, 8 January 2009

Over in the UK they have what is known as the Big Fat Quiz of the Year, latest one being, of course, 2008! Hosted by Jimmy Carr, it's mainly an excuse for various celebrities to show how ignorant they are, but it is incredibly amusing.

Definitely worth watching, but the easiest way for us to see it is via YouTube.

Wednesday, 7 January 2009

Returning to the mission of saving the artificers from themselves, we do find a Halfling Rogue to join our party, and very effective she turned out to be.

In order to get to the heart of the matter quickly, we needed to get to a rift portal to get us to the demon dimension, then out the other side, which was on an island. An island with demons! The first batch of which held this creature with many eyes on tentacles and one large eye that floated there, surrounded by other firey creatures. A lot of us got hammered, and I dropped, but eventually we managed to do something right and smack them into submission.

Then we found one huge demon guarding the portal itself, munching on the creatures within. The technique of pinning it down proved very useful, and after we dealt with it and it fell back through the rift, the large body proved a very effective deterrent to the demons waiting within. The plan from there was simple, get in and run!

So while we could cross the dimension easily enough, there was a small problem of the exit being guarded by about a dozen creatures. Not particularly hard, but it was time consuming putting them all down. And while we did that, larger and harder creatures bore down on us... Fortunately, we managed to deal with them just in time to get away before we were attacked once more.

On the other side, we were in the main islands, and in the hands of the Resistance! They told us that there was a major big demon waiting to be dealt with in the middle of a volcano... sounds like fun!

Tuesday, 6 January 2009

As I was on holidays, I decided to get in on the Thursday (as they call it) game. Which was a bit pointless as they were all adventures I had heard and thus I wasn't able to contribute to any of them and instead took up a slot that could have gone to someone more useful. Bathroom Redux: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Truck Redux: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Dark Redux: Part 1, Part 2. After Game Chat: Part 1.

On the Friday, we had a new GM, that of Dale, from across the pond. It was an incredibly fun mod, although made all the more disturbing by the actions of the intern (which is what he became at the end). I Am Shenobi: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.

On the Saturday, back to "normal" mods, and by normal I mean a run around with a new intern and all new horrors. Logan brings in new major players in the campaign, and it's highly likely that the response of the players will be "death to them!". (Note: I didn't name this...) Crotchless Panties and the Gimp: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9.

Once dealt with that mission, we decided that the next best course was to try for information, which necessitated us going into the Cubical Jungle, and finding the fun and games therein. Monkey Pimp: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

I was just thinking that a few years ago, getting Doctor Who books were a rare treat. I'm referring to the non-fictional aspects rather than the Virgin fiction range. There were basically only a limited number of books, and it was possible to try to get them all, although several older ones were nearly impossible to get a hold of.

However, now... we have Doctor Who files and books coming out our ears, and we can be picky about what we want to get! (And indeed, most of the hardcore fans either ignore them as too childish or collect them purely because of obsessiveness.) There's tons of stuff coming out, not just books, just anything that they can slap a Doctor Who logo on!

Way back in the beginning the Daleks managed to do this, and over the years the BBC has put out some stuff, but I would not be at all surprised if just the last few years, quantity-wise(*), stack up with the entirely of the previous lot of output. (Aside from the fiction books.) I'm sure David Howe, Paul Scoones or Jon Preddle could say more about that aspect, but it certainly seems to be the case.

Doctor Who has gone commercial in its popularity... and that's great! We've reached hype levels experienced by Star Trek and other shows that know their commercial potential. Woo-hoo! At last! Yay!

Sunday, 4 January 2009

It has been pointed out that the new Doctor is younger than many of us (including me). Well, that's going to happen. It's also been pointed out that there is a continual habit of getting in the more obscure actors. Yeah, that's happening again... but that's slightly more odd. I would have thought that they would have gone for someone slightly more recognisable that someone who was in some TV movies with Billie Piper.

Thursday, 1 January 2009

Back in the day, we had our own music show that playing for half-an-hour in the weekend by the name of Ready To Roll. Ah, the joy of yesteryear, 'tis a pity the videos have gone...

But wait! They haven't! The Film Archive have all those videos (well, 100 of them), and you can watch them all if you are Ready To Roll? And, moreover, vote for them (the winners announced in the People's Choice during Music Month in May)! (Hopefully the videos will continue to be available, but you can download them if you know how...)

Currently leading the pack is the brilliant Jan Hellreigel's The Way I Feel, although there are so many other brilliant videos! What of The Swingers' Counting the Beat? Or Can't Get Enough by Supergroove? But rather than phrase it as questions, some of my picks are: